While the "Kingdom Hearts" series is known to mesh different worlds, the upcoming franchise installment is said to exclude another big-name series from its producer Square Enix, which is the "Final Fantasy" franchise.
According to Gamespot, the confirmation came from no less than the game's co-director, Tai Yasue. While it is revealed that main protagonist Sora and friends will continue to visit interconnected worlds in "Kingdom Hearts 3," a setting from "Final Fantasy" will not be among them.
Yasue said, "We're not adding any Final Fantasy worlds. A lot of the original [to Kingdom Hearts] worlds [Hollow Bastion, Traverse Town, e.t.c.] had Final Fantasy characters in them. At this moment, we are not really coming up with any plans for that, we're making original worlds and Disney worlds."
While details on the worlds remain sketchy to date, some rumored settings that will reportedly be visited in the game include the original Disney franchise worlds. There are even talks that some new Disney-acquired franchises like "Star Wars" and "Big Hero 6" may also appear in the game.
While Yasue did not confirm this, the co-director adds, "The best thing would be to have Disney Worlds everyone recognize and are famous, but that are also distinct and unique."
Meanwhile, although Square Enix has yet to provide details on how the story will progress this time, it is already revealed that "Kingdom Hearts 3" will have close ties to the upcoming "Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8" compilation title, to be released in December. The sequences in the upcoming title will serve as backdrops leading to the events in "Kingdom Hearts 3."
Although "Kingdom Hearts 3" is confirmed to come out sometime soon, there is no specific release date yet. According to some fans, since "Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue" goes out in December, the next "Kingdom Hearts" game may be expected to have an early 2017 release.
